Last March, there were letters and fliers that reached members of the Muslim community in London of an event called, “Punish A Muslim Day.” The flyers contained incendiary language against Muslims and urged London citizens to take part in abusing Muslims, both physically and verbally. Moreover, anyone who refuses or do not take part in the horrendous actions, the flyers state, are “sheep”. According to an article in Snopes, authorities were taking the threats seriously and assured citizens they would take precautions to protect potential victims.
Fortunately, the United States is also taking precautions to make sure the flames of xenophobia and Islamophobia do not spread to the United States. Cities like New York and Chicago are urging citizens to be vigilant, although no threats in the United States have been noticed, authorities are preparing themselves, nonetheless. According to Fox news in Chicago, Muslim Citizens are indeed afraid, but claim this is not unusual: “Just like any other day, we have to be vigilant… but we probably have to be all the more and vigilant [on April 3rd].” Additionally, non-Muslims are urged to stand with Muslims in solidarity by donning hijabs so that they may have the appearance of a Muslim.
However, some Muslim Americans are seeing the bright side to these dark threats; most notable is The Daily Show’s, Hasan Minhaj, who claims, “I’m optimistic. I know it’s scary but they’re proposing ‘Punish a Muslim Day’. Day, Trevor, one day. That’s 364 days less than normal.” Indeed, Minhaj’s laughter in the face of danger attitude is contagious when he says things like, “You know what does offends me? The shitty graphic design [of the flyer]. I mean, come on. The weird fonts, the random underlining. Are you running a race war? Or running bingo night at a nursing home?”
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